The day was mainly hatchery fish. We did
well with “pinks” and you always release
wild salmon. Hatchery fish have a clipped
fin so you can recognize wild salmon.
has made the boat spectacularly more
economical as well as faster, and we
could cruise at 32 mph, topping out at
45. Because Gary’s boat had such a
good turn of speed, we didn’t bother
making the highway drive up to Sooke
Harbour again. Instead, we left right
from the Coast Victoria Hotel in
Victoria Harbor and ran up the coast to
Bedford Rocks.
Right away, we caught what we
believe was a huge Chinook salmon,
(sometimes called a Spring). We
played it for maybe 10 minutes and
almost had it up to the boat when a
Day 2 we traveled with Gary Cooper of
Nice Fish TV aboard his Suzuki-powered
vintage Grew hardtop. We departed the
from the sheltered Coast Victoria Hotel
docks right out to the ocean.
Sea Lion took it. The Sea Lions fight
really hard and in a few moments after
tangling the line around the boat, it
was able to snap the line and take our
big fish. Sea Lions swim a short distance away and then surface with the
fish in their mouth!
Gary decided to move in closer to
shore to try trolling in 60 to 100 feet
using cut Herrings and a slower
trolling speed of 1 1/2 to 2 mph, running on one of our main Suzuki
engines.
Gary was baiting the lines with 7 to
8 inch Herring. He wetted his hands so
he didn’t hurt the scales than took a
knife, cut the heads off, guts the
Herring and adds the hook on a leader
with a swivel. That keeps the bait spinning to flash and attract salmon.
All great ideas but nothing hit.
Suddenly, close to shore, Killer Whales
breached. Instead of fishing for
salmon, we were treated to a spectacular afternoon of whale watching.
Some of the Killers breached right
beside our boat and one of them did a
“spade up” where he stood on his tail
the way I’m sure you’ve seen in magazines and posters. It’s actually a fairly
rare display. We weren’t expecting it
and didn’t get the camera on it in time.
What Killer Whales will do is to
hunt as a pod, rounding up seals,
herding them into a group and then
grabbing the seals and flinging them
up into the air. We were astonished to
see seals flying straight up in the air,
many feet above the water, one after
the other until the (very aptly named)
Killer Whales were ready to have their
big meal.
The Killer Whale display was spectacular but even without it the glorious
and unspoiled coastline, the spectacular sunny weather and the fantastic
fishing would still make this, the trip of
a lifetime!
Resource Guide
General Area Information
www.vancouverisland.com
Ferry Schedules and Information
www.BCFerries.com
Dave Yakimovich
www.oceandreams.ca
Gary Cooper
www.nicefish.tv
Darren Beasley
www.beasleysfishingcharters.com
